Mudavadi, Wetang'ula want commission of inquiry on bad sugar

Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi and his Ford-Kenya counterpart Moses Wetang’ula have asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to form a commission of inquiry to look into the sugar sector woes.

The two leaders, who Wednesday had held a breakfast meeting with Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa at Serena Hotel, said that Parliament has failed to provide leadership on the matter.

“For Kenyans, it is now a case of once bitten, twice shy. How will Kenyans believe that the MPs who took blue envelopes last week will not take them again this week?” Mr Wetang’ula asked, rubbishing a proposal to have the Speaker allow Parliament to re-look at the sugar scandal.

SOLUTION

“The solution for this big problem now lies outside Parliament. We have today recorded our disgust and disapproval of how Parliament acted and we want an independent commission of inquiry to look into the matter,” Mr Mudavadi said.

The ANC leader decried the shooting down of the report prepared by a House committee that inquired into the entry of contaminated sugar after the opening of the duty free period, which he said had led to the loss of livelihoods for millions of people in western Kenya.

The inquiry, he said, should be akin to the Johann Kriegler-led commission that sought ways to address concerns over Kenya’s election crisis following the disputed 2007 polls.

INDEPENDENT TEAM

“Where we have reached, there is no way we can say that a committee of Parliament can review itself on this matter. We want President Kenyatta to form an independent team to look at this, and he has the powers to do so under the Constitution,” the ANC leader said.

Mr Mudavadi argued: “Parliament had an opportunity to look at what ails the sector and we all saw what they did. The solution to this now lies outside the House and is squarely in the hands of the President.”

Mr Wamalwa said that Parliament had “butchered” the report, even as he remained optimistic about the government’s commitment to address problems in the sugar industry.

“If salt has lost its saltiness, you then look for another solution. In this sugar debate, if Parliament has failed to address the concerns, there are other legal ways including the President forming a commission (of inquiry),” said Mr Wamalwa.

The minister asked western Kenya cane farmers not to despair, saying “help is on the way. There are other solutions.”

Mr Wamalwa said there are plans to start discussions on zoning, sugar development levy and other rules he said will help guide the sector.